With security forces achieving complete area domination over the Maoists and establishing peace on the ground in Koraput district, the State Police and the Border Security Force (BSF) now plan to replicate the successes in Malkangiri, another badly-affected district from ultra-left violence. As many as eight battalions (8,000 personnel) of the BSF are deployed in Odisha to counter Naxal violence in the State. Most of these personnel are deployed in Koraput district for the last five years and the State Government has sought two more battalions of the paramilitary from the Centre for deployment in Malkangiri, which is used by the ultras as a fertile recruitment ground.
The BSF, that was deployed in 2010, took two years to establish itself on the ground and develop its Intelligence network before undertaking pinpointed action against the ultras, an official of the G Branch (Intelligence Wing) of the paramilitary said. “The Subsidiary Intelligence Wing (SIW) of Odisha Police on its part has been generating actionable inputs from the field to supplement the anti-Naxal operations carried out jointly by the BSF and police. The State Government has also been supportive of the action by the security forces,” BSF Inspector-General PS Sandhu said, adding operations in Malkangiri will be intensified once additional battalions are sanctioned.
While the security forces have killed nine senior Naxal commanders and arrested 155 ultras, including top operative Nachika linga, as many as 80 major cadres have surrendered during the period. During the peak of Naxal violence in the State, the ultras had killed 51 civilians and 23 policemen besides inflicting casualties on the BSF and Greyhounds. The BSF is also conducting Civic Action Programmes like running medical camps in remote areas of Koraput, distributing books and stationery to local students and sponsoring their excursions to various parts of the country. “Such activities help us win the hearts of the people who often rebuff the overtures of the ultras and help us in keeping abreast with Maoists’ tactics,” Sandhu added.
“The number of Naxal incidents in Narayanpatna, Bandhugaon and laxmipur, the highly-affected police stations of Koraput, has witnessed a downward spiral while the number of other cases at these police stations have jumped significantly, indicating the faith people are reposing in the Government machinery,” said Koraput Superintendent of Police Charan Singh Meena. Kalahandi SP Brijesh Kumar Rai said, “The SIW has done an excellent job in generating valuable Intelligence in the Maoist ranks leading to successful operations against the ultras.
This coupled with the disenchantment of the people with the anti-tribal activities of the Naxals has resulted in many of the cadres and armed militias surrendering in the affected areas. Several initiatives of the State Government have helped in bridging the development vacuum in the districts where the Maoists had in the past been able to create the so called liberated zones.” Rai, who has himself led a number of anti-Naxal operations in the State, said Naxals cadres shunning violence are being given monetary benefits under the surrender and rehabilitation schemes. The Naxals have been unsuccessfully trying to gain foothold in certain pockets of Kalahandi, he maintained.